Axial flow combine with a rotary discharge and a straw chopper

ABSTRACT

An axial flow combine has two axial flow threshing and separating units with a rotary discharge receiving discharged threshed crop material from the rear of the axial units and impelling the threshed crop material through the rear of the combine hood. A straw chopper is mounted at the rear of the hood and has a feed plate extending upwardly and forwardly within the hood for receiving and guiding crop material to the straw chopper. A transverse roll extends along the upper rear edge of the plate to clear the end of threshed crop material.

United States Patent 1151 3,670,739 Rowland-Hill 1 June 20, 1972 [5AXIAL FLOW COMBINE WITH A 2,314,901 3/1943 Scranton ..130 27 E ROTARYDISCHARGE AND A STRAW 3,215,145 11/1965 Zmuda ..130/27 E CHOPPER3,602,230 8/1971 Knapp ..130/27 "r [72] Inventor: Edward WilliamRowland-Hill, Lancaster,

[73] Assignee: Sperry Rand Corporation, New Holland,

[22] Filed: July 14, 1971 [21] App1.No.: 162,512

[52] US. Cl. ..130/27 T, 146/117 R [51] Int. Cl. ..'.....A01i 7/06 [58]Field ofSearch .....l30/27 R, 27 E, 27 F, 27 T; 146/107 L, 107 T, 117 R,117 A, 121

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,950,747 8/1960 Alloway..l46/l17 R Primary Examiner-Antonio F. Guida Attorney-John C. Thompson,et al.

[57] ABSTRACT An axial flow combine has two axial flow threshing andseparating units with a rotary discharge receiving discharged threshedcrop material from the rear of the axial units and impelling thethreshed crop material through the rear of the combine hood. A strawchopper is mounted at the rear of the hood and has a feed plateextending upwardly and forwardly within the hood for receiving andguiding crop material to the straw chopper. A transverse roll extendsalong the upper rear edge of the plate to clear the end of threshed cropmaterial.

9 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures PATENTEnJunzo I972 3.670J39 SHEET 1 nr 3 lNV ENTOR EDWARD W/LL/AM RUWLHND-lI/LL ATTORN EY PATENTEnJuxzo 1972 SHEET2 0F 3 INVENTOR EDWARD WILL/AM R0 WUM/D-HILL ATTOR N EY PATENTEDJUN 20m2 SHEET 3 OF 3 INVENTOR EDWARD WILL/14M ROWL fl/VD'H/LL Ax/t ATTORN EYAXIAL FLOW COMBINE WITH A ROTARY DISCHARGE AND A STRAW CHOPPER RELATEDAPPLICATIONS This relates to my co-pending application Ser. No. 51,082,filed on June 30, 1970 and titled An Axial Flow Threshing and SeparatingMeans with a Load Distributing Threshing Rotor and to my co-pendingpatent application Ser. No. 151,682, filed on June 10, 197i and titledAn Axial Flow Combine with a Rotary Discharge which is acontinuation-inpart of application Ser. No. 1,082.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to the discharge ofthreshed crop material from an axial type combine and is directedparticularly to the delivery of threshed crop material to a strawchopper at the rear of the combine.

In the aforementioned related applications, a rotary discharge islocated at the discharge opening of the separating means of the axialflow units. As explained in the latest application, the discharge of theseparating means is intermediately above the grain handling and cleaningmeans. The ends of the axial units are a substantial distance from therear of the hood through which the material is to be discharged inmanner not to interfere with the cleaning of the grain by the grainhandling and cleaning means. The rotary discharge impels the threshedcrop material clear of the grain handling and cleaning means and thestream of air carrying the light chaff.

It is customary to chop the threshed discharged crop material and spreadit over the ground for better working of the crop material into the soiland for better distribution of the soil enriching nutrients.conventionally, straw choppers are mounted at the rearof the strawwalkers which extend into the rear hood. In the axial flow combines, thestraw chopper is also at the rear of the hood and in the path of thematerial impelled by the rotary discharge. A feed plate extendsforwardly and upwardly to guide the arched discharged material droppingshort of the straw chopper into the straw chopper. The plate has anupper transverse forward end which accumulates crop material,particularly, if it is long. This material drapes over the end tointerfere with the straw chopper and the air stream from the graincleaning means.

OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the invention is toprovide means for guiding threshed crop material into a straw choppermounted on the hood of a combine without accumulating crop material.

Another object of this invention is to prevent the accumulation ofthreshed crop material on the forward end of the feed plate extendingupwardly and forwardly from a straw chopper.

In summary, this invention comprises in an axial flow combine thecombination of a rotary discharge intermediately above the grainhandling and a cleaning means and a straw discharge at the rear of thehood with a feed plate extending upwardly and forwardly in the hood forguiding material into the straw chopper and a straw chopper feed rollalong the upper end of the plate for preventing the accumulation ofthreshed crop material impelled rearwardly by the rotary discharge.

These and other objects and advantages of this invention will beapparent from the following description and claims taken in connectionwith the accompanying drawings which illustrate the various features ofthis invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. I is a view of the left side ofthe combine with the side and casing broken away to show the axialthreshing and separating units, the grain handling and cleaning meansand the rotary discharge assembly.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged left side view of the rear portion of the combineincluding the hood and its straw chopper.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional view of the rear part ofthe combine 3-3 of FIG. 5.

FIG. 4 is a rear view of the rotary discharge and the axial threshingand separating units taken along line 4--4 of FIG. 3.

FIG..5 is a rear view of the straw chopper taken along line 5-5 of FIG.3.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of the rolltaken along line 6-6 of FIG. 5.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT As previously mentioned,these mobile axial flow types of combines, in which this invention isembodied for the purpose of this description, is disclosed in theaforementioned patent applications. These combines, as conventionalcombines, harvest the crop by a header or row crop attachment mounted ona crop elevator attached to the combine. The combine described hereinhas two large drive wheels 22 and two small rearsteering wheels 24. Ahousing 26 on the frame encloses and supports two axial flow threshingand separating units 28, grain handling and cleaning mechanism 30, arotary discharge 32 and a straw discharge 34. The housing extendsrearwardly and has a hood 36 enclosing the baclc of the housing andproviding a large fore-and-aft space with a bottom opening 38 fordischarging chaff and straw onto the ground. The straw chopper 32 ismounted on the lower portion of the hood to chop the discharge threshedcrop material and deposit it on the ground.

On the front of the combine is the crop elevator 40 and the header 42.The crop elevator is the width of the combine housing 26. The header 42has a width greater than the distance between the front wheels 22 forharvesting a wide swath of crops in front of the combine. The harvestedcrops are fed by the header to the crop elevator. Extending forwardlyfrom the housing and over the crop elevator is the operator platform 44and the cab 46.

On the top of the combine is a grain tank 48 for temporarily storing thethreshed grain and a motor 50 for providing power to drive the combineand to operate the header, crop elevator, axial units, rotary discharge,grain handling and cleaning mechanism, straw chopper and other poweroperated parts.

In this preferred embodiment, the axial threshing and separating meansis described as two axial units in side-by-side relation. However, theinvention described and shown in this embodiment is also applicable to asingle axial threshing unit. The two axial flow threshing andseparatingunits 28 comprise two generally cylindrical casings 52 in side-by-siderelation with rotatable shafts 54 extending therethrough. Each axialunit has a feed section 56, threshing section 58, and separating section60. Each feed section 56 has an auger 62 on the respective shafts 54 forfeeding crop material into the following threshing section. The cropmaterial is delivered to the auger by the crop elevator 40. Eachthreshing section 58 has a rotor 64 and rasp bars 66 for threshing thecrop material in cooperation with the concaves 68 in the casing. Eachseparating section has a separating rotor 72 (FIGS. I and 3) withseparating blades 74 cooperating with the grates 76 to separate threshedgrain from the remainder of the crop material. The rotors 72 extend overthe opening 78 for discharging the threshed material downwardly to therotary discharge 32. Flights 80 (FIG. 3) are mounted on the inside ofthe upper wall of the casing 52 to spirally rotate the crop materialthrough the axial units for successive threshing and separating actions.

GRAIN HANDLING AND CLEANING MECHANISM The grain handling and cleaningmechanism is similar to the mechanisms of conventional combines and isbest shown in FIGS. 1 and 3. The grain pan 82 extends across the combineunderneath the axial units and from the front of the threshing sectionsto the rear of the separating grates 76. Thus, the grain pan extendsover the entire length of the concaves and grates to catch the separatedgrain. The grain pan oscillates to move the grain to the rear edge overthe chaffer sieve 84. The chaffer and grain sieve 84 and 86,respectively, are mounted to oscillate fore-and-aft to move the chat?and other debris to the rear of the chaffer and the tailings to the rearof the grain sieve. In this combine the chaffer sieve 84 extendsrearwardly beyond the housing into the forward portion of the hood. Therear of the chaffer sieve projects over the opening 38 for the dischargeof the chaff onto the ground. The grain sieve 86 also operatesconventionally and passes grain onto the grain chute 88 for delivery tothe grain auger 90. The tailings drop off the rear end of the grainsieve to slide down the casing to the tailings auger 92.

An important feature of a grain handling and cleaning mechanism is theair stream from the blower 94 passing between the end of the grain panand the chaffer sieve to carry rearwardly in the air stream A the lightchaff and debris in the grain. The air stream also passes through thechaffer sieve to pick up the light chaff and also to carry it outthrough the bottom opening 38. This lessens the amount of chaff that hasto be handled by the chaffer sieve and the cleaning load on the graincleaning means. Interference with this air stream may cause the lightchaff to drop onto the chafier sieve. It is, therefore, important tomaintain the air stream.

ROTARY DISCHARGE ASSEMBLY The rotary discharge 32 is at the dischargedend of the separating sections of the axial units and over the chaffersieve. It extends transversely across the combine between the side walls95 of the housing 26. The assembly comprises a deflecting shield 96,curved member 98, rotor 100 and rearwardly extending guide wall 102. Thedetails of the rotary discharge assembly are more fully described in myco-pending application previously referred to. For the purposes of thisinvention, a brief description of this assembly will be made. Thedeflector shield 96 is a solid sheet metal piece extending across thehousing to guide the discharge straw downwardly and rearwardly from therear of the grates 76. The deflector shield is attached to the end ofthe grates and to the transverse beam 104 which are adjustably fastenedto the side walls of the housing. The curved member is attached to thelower edged portion of the deflector shield and extends rearwardly andfacing concavely upwardly to generally follow the curved configurationof the rotor 100. The curved member may be a solid plate or a gratemeans. The grate means may be spaced parallel rods with parallel spacestherebetween or may be members perpendicular to one another to formrectangular openings. In the grate form a final separation and recoveryof the grain in the threshed crop material is advantageously obtained.The rotor may be of a beater construction with four outwardly extendingblades as shown in FIG. 3. The rotor may be spiked or other form forpropelling the crop rearwardly. A cut-off plate 106 is positioned overthe top of the rotor to enclose the rotor and create a discharge alongthe guide wall 102. The rotor is mounted in bearings in the side wallsand driven from the motor 50 by suitable drive means, not shown. Therotor in cooperation with the curved member propels the threshed cropmaterial rearwardly along the guide wall 102. The guide wall 102 extendsacross the width of the housing and hood and rearwardly at a slightupward angle and then curves downwardly to the end wall 110 of the hood.The discharged crop material generally follows this in a curved arch orpath as indicated by the arrows B. On the beam 104 is a plate 111extending rearwardly and downwardly and transversely across the housingto prevent the interference of any flowing air from the axial units withthe air stream A from the blower 94.

STRAW CHOPPER The straw chopper 34 is of a conventional type and ismounted on the side plate extensions 114 of the side walls 112 of thehood (FIG. and comprises in general the casing 116 (FIG. 2), a knifebearing rotor 118, and upwardly and forwardly extending feed plate 120and a vane bearing member 122 extending rearwardly from the strawchopper discharge.

The vane bearing member 122 extends generally horizontal and adjustablysupports the vertical and rearward vanes 1220 to position the vanes overa range of angles to one another for a narrow or wide discharge ofchopped material. The casing 116 comprises two side members 124, atransversely curved member 126 extending between the side members and arear plate like member 128. The knife bearing rotor 118 is rotatablymounted in bearings on the side members 124. respectively. The sideextensions are cut out at the rear to accommodate the straw chopper andbearings. The generally solid curved member 126 is forwardly of therotor and has an upper forward planar part and a rearward, downwardlycurved part conforming generally to the cylindrical periphery of therotating knives 130 when rotating as in FIG. 3. The curved member has aterminal edge underneath the axis of rotation of the rotor and forms adischarge opening 132 with the rear plate-like member 128 fordischarging the chopped material from the combine. An inlet openingextends across the top of the casing between the curved member 126 andthe rear plate 128. The casing is positioned at the end of the hood andin the rear part of the hood opening. The crop material impelled by therotary discharge follows the previously described path B into the strawchopper through the top inlet opening.

The rotor comprises a tubular member 138 formed on a shaft 139 rotatablysupported in bearings (not shown) mounted on the side 124. The shaftextends through the left side of the casing and has a sheave 140 forconnection to the belt and pulley drive 142. The belt and pulley driveis connected by drives, not shown, to the motor 50. Circumferentiallyand axially position on the tubular member are fixed knife supports 144.The knives 130 are pivotally attached to these supports for extendinggenerally radially outwardly on rotation to chop the crop material incooperation with the curved member 126.

The feed plate 120 preferably solid extends upwardly and forwardly at anangle for guiding feed into the straw chopper. The feed plate 120 isplanar and extends transversely across the hood. Crop material thatfalls short of the rotor 118 or is thrown by the rotating knives 130against the feed plate slides downwardly into the rotor. L-shaped anglesI46, 148 extend across the hood and are fixedly attached to the sideplate extensions 114 and the sides 112, respectively. The lower angle146 fits around the bead (FIGS. 2 and 3) of the casing and supports thefeed plate 120 along the edge of one side. The upper angle 148 is justabove the side plate extensions and is welded to strips 150 which arebolted to the side walls 112 of the hood. The side 152, FIG. 6, of theangle faces upwardly and forwardly at an angle and the other side 154faces upwardly and rearwardly to engage and support the feed plate 120.

The straw chopper feed roll is positioned along the upper end of thefeed plate 120. As best seen in FIG. 6, the roll generally comprises ashaft 162, four longitudinally extending plates 164 and blocks 166longitudinally arranged along the shaft for supporting the platesthereon. The plates are welded to the blocks and to one another alongtheir respective edges. The longitudinally extending edge of each of theplates extends at a right angle to the next succeeding plate to providea short blade or paddle. The shaft 162 is rotatably mounted in flangettebearings fastened to the side 112 of the hood. A sheave 170 (FIG. 5) isfastened to an extension of the shaft 126 which is part of the belt andpulley drive 172 connected by suitable drives to the motor 50. The strawchopper feed roll is turned in a downward and rearward direction asindicated by the arrow C in FIG. 6. A scrapper 174 is adjustablyattached to the upper end of the feed plate 120 to provide a closespacing between the end of the feed plate and the roll. Angular rims 176are mounted on the inside of the side walls 112 and extend inwardly tooverlap the ends of the blades 164 to prevent wrapping of crop materialaround the shaft 162. The roll is continuously rotated with theoperation of the straw chopper and positioned between the end of thefeed plate 120 and the direction of the crop material so that cropmaterial that would normally engage or fall across the end of the feedplate is impelled over to the top of the feed plate for feeding into thestraw chopper. Thus, the roll assists in the feeding of the cropmaterial. The roll also acts as a wiper to clean the end of the plate ofcrop material. Thus, crop material cannot accumulate or drape over theend of the feed plate and the discharge of crop material is kept clearof clogging an accumulation of crop material.

SUMMARY OF FEATURES AND ADVANTAGES OF THE INVENTION It is thus seen thatthe invention described herein provides a clog free entrance to thestraw chopper and the final discharge of the crop material from thecombine. The straw chopper cooperates with the rotary discharge assemblyto remove the threshed crop material from the combine, chop the cropmaterial and spread it over the ground in a chopped condition. Thistransfer of material from a rotary discharge to the straw chopperwithout the accumulation of crop material provides for a continuous anduninterrupted harvesting and threshing of the crop.

This advantage is attained without altering the structure of theconventional straw chopper avoiding the necessity of the redesign of thestraw chopper to meet this troublesome condition. The roll isinexpensive to manufacture and is conveniently installed in the combinehood. Also the belt and pulley drive may be conveniently provided todrive the roll.

While the invention has been described, it will be understood that it iscapable of further modification and this application is intended tocover any variations, uses or adaptions of the invention following ingeneral, the principles of the invention and including such departuresfrom the present disclosure as come within known or customary practiceof the art to which the invention pertains, and as may be applied to theessential features hereinbefore set forth and as are within the scope ofthe invention for the limits of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention what I claim is:

1. An axial flow type combine comprising axial flow threshing andseparating means for threshing crop material, separating means forseparating grain from the remainder of the material, a grain panunderneath said means for collecting grain and moving the grainrearwardly, the grain cleaning means underneath and extending rearwardlyof said grain pan to clean the grain and discharge the chaff at the rearof the combine from said cleaning means and in an airborne stream, saidseparating means having opening means at the rear thereof fordischarging threshed crop material, discharge assembly extendingtransversely to said separating means and downwardly and rearwardly fromsaid opening means for receiving crop material discharged from saidopening means, said assembly having a deflector shield slopingdownwardly and rearwardly separating means underneath said opening meansfor receiving the discharged crop material, upwardly facing concavemeans extending substantially horizontal and rearwardly from saiddeflector shield, a transverse means rotatably mounted above saidconcave means to turn downwardly and rearwardly across said concavemeans to move the crop material across the concave means for propellingthe threshed crop material upwardly and rearwardly clear of the cleaningaction of the grain cleaning means, a straw chopper mounted at the rearof the combine to receive and chop the propelled threshed crop materialand discharge it from the combine, a feed plate extending upwardly andforwardly from the straw chopper for guiding crop material into saidstraw chopper and having a transversely ex tending upper forward end, arotatable transverse roll extending along said end to maintain said endclear of accumulating crop material.

2. An axial flow type combine as set forth in claim 1 wherein the axisof said roll is in the plane of said plate.

3. An axial flow type combine as set forth in claim 1 wherein said feedplate has a transversely extending member adjustably mounted thereon andpositionable ad acent to the periphery subscribed by said rotating roll.

4. An axial flow type of combine as set forth in claim 1 wherein meansare provided for driving said roll and for tuming said roll downwardlyand rearwardly.

5. An axial flow type of combine as set forth in claim 1 wherein ahousing with a rearwardly extending hood is provided and said hood hasspaced side walls between which said feed plate is positioned, said rollcomprising a shaft rotatably mounted on said side walls, and plate-likemembers extending longitudinally along said shaft and fixedly attachedthereto and each having an outer edge subscribing a periphery movingpast said end.

6. An axial flow type of combine as set forth in claim 5 wherein saidplate-like members each have a longitudinal edge portion at an anglethereto and said edges being on said respective edge portions.

7. An axial flow type of combine as set forth in claim 5 wherein saidside walls have annular rims extending inwardly to overlap with saidplate-like members.

8. An axial flow type of combine as set forth in claim 7 wherein saidannular rims are concentric with said shaft and the periphery subscribedby said edges.

9. An axial flow type of combine as set forth in claim 7 wherein saidedges are parallel to said shaft and subscribe a cylindrical periphery.

1. An axial flow type combine comprising axial flow threshing andseparating means for threshing crop material, separating means forseparating grain from the remainder of the material, a grain panunderneath said means for collecting grain and moving the grainrearwardly, the grain cleaning means underneath and extending rearwardlyof said grain pan to clean the grain and discharge the chaff at the rearof the combine from said cleaning means and in an airborne stream, saidseparating means having opening means at the rear thereof fordischarging thReshed crop material, discharge assembly extendingtransversely to said separating means and downwardly and rearwardly fromsaid opening means for receiving crop material discharged from saidopening means, said assembly having a deflector shield slopingdownwardly and rearwardly separating means underneath said opening meansfor receiving the discharged crop material, upwardly facing concavemeans extending substantially horizontal and rearwardly from saiddeflector shield, a transverse means rotatably mounted above saidconcave means to turn downwardly and rearwardly across said concavemeans to move the crop material across the concave means for propellingthe threshed crop material upwardly and rearwardly clear of the cleaningaction of the grain cleaning means, a straw chopper mounted at the rearof the combine to receive and chop the propelled threshed crop materialand discharge it from the combine, a feed plate extending upwardly andforwardly from the straw chopper for guiding crop material into saidstraw chopper and having a transversely extending upper forward end, arotatable transverse roll extending along said end to maintain said endclear of accumulating crop material.
 2. An axial flow type combine asset forth in claim 1 wherein the axis of said roll is in the plane ofsaid plate.
 3. An axial flow type combine as set forth in claim 1wherein said feed plate has a transversely extending member adjustablymounted thereon and positionable adjacent to the periphery subscribed bysaid rotating roll.
 4. An axial flow type of combine as set forth inclaim 1 wherein means are provided for driving said roll and for turningsaid roll downwardly and rearwardly.
 5. An axial flow type of combine asset forth in claim 1 wherein a housing with a rearwardly extending hoodis provided and said hood has spaced side walls between which said feedplate is positioned, said roll comprising a shaft rotatably mounted onsaid side walls, and plate-like members extending longitudinally alongsaid shaft and fixedly attached thereto and each having an outer edgesubscribing a periphery moving past said end.
 6. An axial flow type ofcombine as set forth in claim 5 wherein said plate-like members eachhave a longitudinal edge portion at an angle thereto and said edgesbeing on said respective edge portions.
 7. An axial flow type of combineas set forth in claim 5 wherein said side walls have annular rimsextending inwardly to overlap with said plate-like members.
 8. An axialflow type of combine as set forth in claim 7 wherein said annular rimsare concentric with said shaft and the periphery subscribed by saidedges.
 9. An axial flow type of combine as set forth in claim 7 whereinsaid edges are parallel to said shaft and subscribe a cylindricalperiphery.